the Shift continues...

another free-wheelin' face-free episode of RAW Impressions!

There has, indeed, been a Shift around here. Adelle told me she doesn’t want to do video of the podcast anymore. “Just audio, please.” she said, more or less. Thank god. Didn’t want to admit it but the -hours- of extra editing for the YouTubes had just about destroyed my desire to do the show. I was starting to feel physically ill at the prospect of new episodes and the oodles of unpaid work that awaited me. What a dirty rotten shame!

I love recording and embellishing our conversations but, my goodness, looking at my stupid face too? I was, as the kids say, DONE. Our YouTube ‘numbers’ have been steadily declining over the past year or two anyway. Why video ourselves when, actually, that process changes the way we speak? It can detract from the intimacy. It makes us self-conscious for fuck’s sake, the ultimate enemy of a free-form, information-free podcast. Instead, why not add videos of our cats up while the conversations roll? DONE.

Two episodes into our ‘new’ (but old) approach and I’m rejuvenated. I’m back to that place where I’m unaware and unconcerned with how many people are listening. I like crafting the sounds. I like the feeling of anonymity. We’re vocalizing into a void, like the old days. Fashioning a transmission to like minded people who may or may not be listening. Doing a show for the sake of doing a show. HUGE sigh of relief.

COMMERCIAL FREE LISTEN!

So, here we are, second ep. after ‘The Shift’. I finally did good on a promise (to myself) to begin featuring excerpts from a cassette I made 30+ years ago: a compilation of the songs, sound collages, and tantrums offered by early Sebadoh fans. Cassettes we got at shows, in the mail or furtively handed to us in the wild.

Circa 1992(?) I made a 90 minute tape called Stuff People Sent (imaginative, huh?) and, on RAW 156, I’m pleased to share submissions from POND SCUM (a noise collage) and a song by Terry from Connecticut. I have no other information. Are you POND SCUM? Are you there Terry? I hope the decades later unveiling doesn’t trigger y’all. Terry’s song is called Dirty Little Fingers and it’s honestly great. If I may say so, it sounds like she was listening to a whole lotta Sebadoh back then. That didn’t occur to me back in the day, I thought it was a perfectly traditional tune. This time around I’m flattered that she paid tribute to my clunky down-stroke strumming style and knack for inappropriate lyrics. Check out the full tune:

Dirty Little Fingers by Terry from Connecticut

There’s so much more where that came from. I’ll explain it all as we go.

After my mother-in-law’s recent passing, Adelle and I started tearing our house apart and putting it back together again. 100% inspired by Valerie’s (Adelle’s mom) life as an artist, family historian, writer, interior decorator, poet..etc. etc. I can feel Valerie here, nudging us to make sure we accomplish what we want to accomplish before our time runs out. Make stuff look good, make-up good stuff.

She did so much and so can we. We don’t feel like showing our faces on YouTube right now, and I don’t feel like limiting the podcasts to 25 minutes and/or practicing songs before I play them for fear of ‘fucking up’. There’s no such thing. Living an artistic life can be it’s own reward. Thanks for showing us the Way Val, and thanks for helping us Shift.

Before I go here’s a reminder that I’m playing 2 solo shows pretty soon: